Fezz Audio OVO Review by Ear Fidelity

Introduction to the Fezz Audio OVO Review

Many of you are probably unaware of the name Fezz. One of the most popular brands in Poland, they specialize in stereo equipment like integrated amplifiers, power amplifiers, preamps, DACs, phono stages, etc.

Their bread and butter are tubes, no doubt about it. Even though they released their solid-stage line under the name of Torus, tubes are still what it’s all about basically.

Fezz Audio is a Polish audio equipment manufacturer founded in 2015 and based in the Podlaskie region of northeastern Poland. Under the leadership of Maciej Lachowski, Fezz Audio has rapidly established itself as a prominent name in the world of high-fidelity audio here in Poland.

The company’s journey began with the introduction of the Laura amplifier in 2014, followed by the Silver Luna in 2015, which became a cornerstone of their product lineup. Fezz Audio’s commitment to quality tube amplifiers has led to the development of several acclaimed models, including the Titania, Mira Ceti, and Olympia. All of them have garnered recognition for their exceptional sound performance and design. Especially the Olympia, which I have tested in the past few months has impressed me a lot.

I actually use their Titania EVO in my personal stereo setup. It is the best stereo amplifier in its price range that I have ever tested. What’s important though: Even though it’s a tube amplifier, it’s not slow nor weak sounding, not at all actually. It packs quite a punch and has excellent dynamics. Also, the soundstage capabilities are brilliant.

Because of my history with Fezz’s products, I’m basically expecting nothing less than excellence from the OVO. So…let’s dive in and see how Fezz handled high-end headphones amp.

Packaging

Reviewed Fezz Audio OVO comes packed in a big cardboard box, with all the necessary accessories.

The overall packaging is snug and well-made, so you don’t have to worry about it being shipped across the world. It’ll survive without any problems.

Inside the box, you’ll get the reviewed Fezz Audio OVO itself, a manual, a remote control, and a power cord. Additionally, you can order your OVO with optional accessory, which is a Bluetooth expansion card.

The remote control is quite chunky. It’s entirely made of metal, and it only has two buttons – volume up, and volume down. What else do you need?

Actually, you might need a weapon if there’s a zombie apocalypse breakout and you’re stuck at your home. Trust me, I haven’t tested it, but I reckon this could be a pretty good short melee weapon or a kind of throwing knife. Well…you never know, do you?

The Bluetooth expansion card is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a card module that you install on the back of your OVO. This is actually a brilliant idea. In the future, maybe Fezz will come up with a DAC expansion card?

The installation of the module is super simple, all you have to do is undo two screws, insert the card, and connect it. I’ve always been a fan of simple yet functional ideas, and this is certainly one of them.

Also, there are audio purists who don’t want any of that in their amplifier. A super clean, uninterrupted signal is all they care about. For all of them, having an actual option to have specific functionalities or not is a wonderful idea.

Design and Build Quality of the reviewed Fezz Audio OVO

This is an interesting one. As you might remember from the introduction, Fezz Audio has been on the market for 10 years now. Obviously, throughout the years, this company has evolved and changed a lot of things.

One of the most noticeable changes was with their design. Previously, before the EVO series, their devices were…subjectively pretty. I was never a fan of the old design, as it looked a bit too DIY-ish to me, and they seemed unpolished.

Then came the year 2022, when Fezz started a collaboration with KABO & PYDO, a design studio based in Warsaw. Their aim was pretty simple – to make Fezz devices pretty…universally pretty.

And boy oh boy, what a success it’s been. The EVO series is just strikingly beautiful. My Titania EVO is still one of those devices, that I turn my back on it to look at it while leaving the room.

You know, when you buy a super nice car, and every single time you park it, you have to turn around and look at it. It’s the same kind of vibe. How Fezz went from “well, not so pretty” to “oh god this is STRIKING” is absolutely amazing.

And it’s not only me – the Fezz EVO series received a Red Dot award in 2023, and trust me, these aren’t given out too easily. An award well-deserved if you ask me.

Additionally, it’s not just simple and minimalistic. Every Fezz Audio device comes in many different color versions, and all of them are spectacular. My favorites are definitely the Evergreen, Sunlight, and Moonlight. But, if you want red, you got red, if you’d prefer burgundy…well, you see where I’m going.

This is actually a brilliant thing. If you’re buying an audio device that is this level of *pretty*, having a choice to get your choice of color is just further improving the experience. Hats off ladies and gentlemen.

It’s not just the design though. The actual build quality is excellent. The OVO is heavy and substantial, it’s definitely not a small and portable amplifier that’ll fit on every desk. You have to find a decent spot for this behemoth, but as I already mentioned, it’ll be a fantastic addition to your desk or rig.

One thing that I want to mention that I’m not a huge fan of: the tubes are not protruding from the chassis, and I’m a HUGE fan of visible tubes in my amplifiers. Instead, they are hidden behind a specially designed drawer on the top of the amplifier. A drawer, yes, since you can move it to the side to get easy access if you’d like to switch out the tubes for example.

The idea is excellent, the execution too, but I’d still rather have my tubes just protruding from the top of the Fezz Audio OVO. Well, you can’t have everything, can you?

On the front of the device, you’ll find three knobs. One is obviously a volume knob, the other one is an impedance selector, and the third one is an input selector. Additionally, since it’s a headphone amplifier (duuuh), you’re also getting three headphone outputs – a 4-pin XLR, a 4.4mm Pentaconn, and a 6.3mm jack. Pretty much every single viable option on the market currently.

Tech

Reviewed Fezz Audio OVO is a Class-A, single-ended triode operating on a single 12ax7 and two EL84 tubes. It has a fixed output power rated at 1500mW, no matter the impedance.

Speaking of which, reviewed Fezz Audio OVO has an impedance selector that has three levels – low, mid, and high. Because the impedance is matched by the transformer, it gives the same output power for every mode selected.

Because of that, the OVO is going to be a highly universal amplifier that will easily power most headphones on the market, if not all of them.

The supplied tubes are both made by Electro Harmonix. They have been used by Fezz for many years with great success, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to me. Obviously, you can buy aftermarket tubes if you want to tube roll that beast, as both the 17AX7 and the EL84 are highly popular tubes. The choice is yours.

Sound of the reviewed Fezz Audio OVO

As we’re now getting into the sound of the Fezz Audio OVO, I have to mention one thing. Fezz amplifiers don’t REALLY sound like tube amplifiers to begin with.

The exception is of course the Mira Ceti, as it uses 300B/2A3 tubes. These are highly rich, magical-sounding amplifiers, no way around it.

The core of Fezz’s offer are two models basically – the Titania EVO, which I personally use, and the entry-level Silver Luna. The first one uses KT88 tubes, while the latter is built around EL34 tubes.

Both these amplifiers sound powerful, fast, and agile, with just a hint of that tube warmth, mainly present in the midrange.

This makes these amplifiers highly universal and incredibly fun to listen to. As I already mentioned, I’ve tested a lot of €3000-4000 amplifiers, looking for the one that could proudly handle my Pylon Audio Diamond 28 MKII speakers in my system.

After months or even years of testing, the Titania EVO was just an obvious pick. Not only is it strikingly beautiful, but it also sounds incredibly expressive, rich, and dynamic.

Fast forward to the OVO, now you might know what to expect to some degree. It’s definitely not a gooey-like tube amplifier that sounds slow or weak. Don’t worry about it.

The bass here is agile, fresh, and well-textured. Rather than focusing on the impact though, it shows you a full palette of textures. Low frequencies are controlled at all times, giving you a lot of information and that firm, quick snappy attack.

It also reaches really low, down to the Subbass region. I would describe it as even-sounding, as none of the bass frequencies come forward in the mix. Because of that, the OVO has the ability to shine with every type of recording when it comes to bass.

It doesn’t influence the sound here, just simply lets your headphones decide, what kind of bass is going to get to your ears. I believe this is a good aspect when it comes to an amplifier in this price bracket.

The midrange is open and crisp, but it also has that subtle tube coloration. While I would like a slightly more pronounced lower midrange, I was amazed by the level of texture and air here.

If any frequency in this region is coming forward, it’s the higher midrange. This makes female vocalists shine, especially with well-mastered music.

There’s also a lot going on in the midrange frequency to begin with. The OVO is highly transparent and snappy, so it just shows you all the small nuances of the recording. The detail retrieval is absolutely fantastic here, giving you a wonderful insight into your favorite albums.

It was especially enjoyable in live recordings, where the OVO gave me an insane amount of separation and micro details. Every time people clapped between songs I felt amazed by the level of resolution this amplifier has. If you like your amplifier to be really revealing fresh-sounding, the OVO will be your cup of tea.

The treble is crisp, very fast, and open. There’s no coloration or trying to hide anything. If there’s even the slightest sound in the recording, you’re going to hear it.

It’s a two-sided blade for many though. Some people prefer an amplifier that can handle the treble in a way that some worse masterings will not be unbearable. It’s not the case with the Fezz Audio OVO, as it just shows you the truth.

I especially enjoyed drum cymbals while testing the Fezz Audio OVO, as it gave me that fast, precise, and crips type of presentation which sounds highly impressive and insightful. However, with some worse recordings, paired with hyper-detailed headphones, it tends to get a bit too much for my preference. But I’m quite sensitive to that.

The soundstage is interesting in the OVO. The width is limited but very precise. However, the depth is absolutely spectacular here, giving you a highly seductive type of presentation.

Both the delay and reverb are shown truthfully and it seems like the depth is basically unlimited here. If the specific sound is supposed to get quite echoey, the OVO has all the depth and immersion for it to sound lifelike.

When paired with the Erzetich Charybdis, the OVO gave me one of the best depths I’ve heard in quite a while when it comes to headphone amplifiers. Actually, this pairing is absolutely fantastic in my opinion. But we’ll get there…

Fezz Audio OVO Review – Summary

The Fezz Audio OVO is a capable, transparent-sounding headphone amplifier that offers very impressive technical capabilities.

On top of that, its design and build quality are both fantastic, making it a beautiful addition to every audio system, whether you’re into tube amplifiers or not.

Fezz Audio has been a very strong player in stereo equipment for many years now, and now they have turned their heads towards the headphones market. The competition has to be on the lookout for these guys, definitely.

Recommended!

Big thanks to Fezz for loaning me the OVO for this review. I wasn’t paid or asked to say anything good or bad about this product, all of the above is just my personal, unbiased opinion.